The problem with fighting fake news

By Gerry NichollsFeb. 11, 2019

I think the best course to follow is for the Ministry of Democratic Institutions to actually have confidence in democratic institutions. That’s to say, it should trust the citizenry to discern truth without the help of government.

Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould said 'the objective is to have civil society organizations in Canada who can help provide some of the civic awareness and education to evaluate news, digital media, etcetera, the information coming to Canadians, so they can make their informed choice of how they ingest this information, and how they share it or not.' The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

OAKVILLE, ONT.—Whenever I see references to the federal government’s Ministry of Democratic Institutions, I always get a slight case of the willies.

Gerald Butts has removed himself from the daily political grind of strategizing how to keep the Liberals in power. But observers say it's unlikely he will be consigned to watch the campaign unfold from the sidelines.

SNC-Lavalin risks a takeover if it's convicted. But aside from likely outrage in Quebec, Ottawa can find other builders for its infrastructure plans if the company is banned from bidding on federal contracts, experts say

The Quebec company had extensive access to government ministers and top staffers, and was the only organization registered to lobby for allowing deferred prosecution agreements for white collar crimes.